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Travelex, the London-based foreign exchange company, has suspended some of its services and taken its UK website offline following a cyber attack that took place on New Year's Eve.

A malware infection caused the company to take the decision to cut the cord on its services. It said that this was merely a "precautionary measure" which was done "in order to protect data". The suspension of services has caused problems for customers around the world and has had a knock-on effect for other companies including Tesco Bank and Asda.

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Dell's XPS 13 is a legendary laptop, not just with Windows users, but hardcore Linux fans too. You see, through the company's Project Sputnik program, Dell has long provided special "Developer Edition" variants of its laptops that come pre-loaded with Ubuntu. Operating system aside, the XPS 13 has been highly lauded for its build quality, attention to detail, and top specifications. Ultimately, you buy an XPS 13 and always know you are getting a quality laptop.

Today, Dell announces the newest XPS 13 Developer Edition and it looks incredible. This 10th generation computer (which is being dubbed "2020") is thinner and smaller while offering even better specifications, such as an improved 13.4-inch display (with 16:10 aspect ratio) and the ability to be configured with up to 32GB -- double the previous generation's maximum memory. There are no USB-A ports, sadly, but it does have two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a micro SD card reader. You get thinner bezels and a larger trackpad too. Believe it or not, Dell is even promising proper fingerprint reader support in a future software update, meaning you can finally secure Ubuntu with biometrics!

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Long gone are the days where Apple was the sole manufacturer of elegant laptops. Quite frankly, Apple has become a bit stagnant with its designs. Truth be told, makers of Windows laptops (such as Samsung, HP, and Huawei) have met or exceeded Apple's MacBook looks. Best of all, these Windows notebooks are often much more affordable than Apple's offerings too. Not to mention, they typically have touch screens!

Today, Samsung unveils a new Windows 10 laptop that isn't just elegant, but affordable too. Starting at well below $1,000, the Galaxy Book Flex α (Alpha) features a useful 2-in-1 design that should be beneficial for both work and play. It has a beautiful 13.3-inch QLED FHD display, long battery life, a fingerprint reader, a USB-C port. and a 10th gen Intel Core processor.

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Dell's Mobile Connect software already allows for handy control of Android smartphones from a Windows 10 laptop, and soon the same option will be made available to iPhone users.

The software has been around for a couple of years now, and Dell's planned expansion means that iPhone owners will be able to view their phone's screen on their computer, as well and easily transfer files between devices.

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Microsoft plans to release the Chromium-based Edge web browser for the desktop on January 15, 2020 (one day after support for Windows 7 ends officially but Windows 7 is supported).

The Chromium-based web browser is only available for desktop operating systems currently. Microsoft published an update for Microsoft Edge on Android recently that prepares the mobile web browser for the upcoming release.

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People tend to anthropomorphize their virtual assistants, assigning them personalities and physical features such as age, facial expressions and hairstyles according to research from Canada's University of Waterloo.

But giving these qualities to virtual assistants could cause people to reveal more personal information to the companies that own them than they otherwise would, says the study.

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Three smartphone manufactures came together last summer to create a new Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance with the aim of making it easier to share files between devices. Now it's available on selected handsets and is going global.

The alliance is made up of vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi and it was been created to develop what amounts to an Android version of Apple's AirDrop. File transfers are possible without the need for additional apps, and without the need to use mobile data or an internet connection.

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Apple has long played a game of cat and mouse with the developers of jailbreak tools, constantly amending the code of its mobile operating systems to prevent people from unlocking their iPhones and iPads.

In an ongoing spat with Corellium -- a company which virtualizes iOS for use by security researchers -- Apple has amended the lawsuit it brought against the company this summer saying the tools it produces infringe on copyright. Corellium has responded with an open letter saying that Apple's line of attack "should give all security researchers, app developers, and jailbreakers reason to be concerned".

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JPMorgan Chase is to enforce stricter security measures, banning third-party fintech apps from accessing customer passwords.

The existing method of data sharing provides -- with permission -- numerous apps with access to customers' bank accounts, but concerns have been voiced about the possible dangers. No timetable has been set out, but the American finance giant intends to use a token-based system that will provide third parties with access to "a narrow range of data in a secure form".

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving technology. If you are delighted and excited by computers, smartphones, and other devices, that is perfectly normal. Heck, I am guilty of this myself -- my desktop computer is one of my most prized possessions. After all, I built it piece by piece -- it is almost like my child. Almost...

Let's be honest though -- computers are just things that can be replaced. OK, true, maybe the data on the machine is irreplaceable, but even then, your life is worth more than anything stored on the computer’s drive. And that is why I am heartbroken today. You see, I stumbled across an article from CBS San Francisco about an adult man that died tragically -- trying to recover his laptop from thieves.

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Another year over and a new one just begun. That’s where we are today, not only a new year, but a new decade. Welcome to the 20s. The last time we had those my grandparents were young kids, Flappers were in style and nobody saw the great depression coming.

To celebrate the passing of time I'm going to look back at my favorite tech of 2019. Not all is new, but some is. The others are just things I still use all the time. I shall begin with the three new items.

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Privacy and security are the guiding principles of ProtonMail, and now the company is expanding beyond email. The company has launched a beta version of ProtonCalendar, a privacy-focused alternative to Google Calendar.

ProtonMail claims that this is the "first fully encrypted calendar app", and says it offers a viable alternative to the companies (i.e. Google)  that "companies snoop on your calendar and use that information to inform their advertising".

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Despite being over four years old, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt not only remains popular but is actually more popular than ever on Steam.

Yesterday, over 94,000 players were logged into the game, exceeding the previous record from the launch back in May 2015. There is no doubt that the Netflix Witcher series has helped to boost interest in the game, but Steam also has a huge sale on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Game of the Year Edition (which includes the Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine expansions), with a massive 70 percent off serving as a huge enticement for newcomers.

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With cloud storage gaining in popularity, flash drives have fallen out of favor with many consumers. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, as USB flash drives are easy to lose and are susceptible to failure -- the cloud is arguably more safe and secure. With that said, there will always be a need for local storage, as sometimes you can't trust, say, company secrets, to the cloud. Hell, I used a USB flash drive for an operating system installation just yesterday -- they absolutely still have value.

It is hard to get excited about USB flash drives though, right? I mean, aren't they all the same? Actually, no! They can vary on things like build quality and performance. That's why the new Transcend JetFlash 910 USB flash drive piqued my interest. Not only are both read and write speeds very impressive, but the build quality looks great too -- it features an elegant aluminum body.

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In the IT industry, software vendors naturally focus their efforts on developing easier ways to onboard new customers and provide unique functionality on their platforms, but they rarely devote development cycles to making it easy to export workloads. As a result, it can be difficult to extract workloads and move between competing platforms. This is commonly referred to as 'vendor lock-in' and is especially concerning with databases and enterprise applications.

But, according to Chris Patterson, senior director of product management at Navisite, an RDX company, cloud computing offers an unusual opportunity for companies to break free from vendor lock-in. He believes cloud migration could alter the status quo, because when organizations decide to migrate their databases to the cloud, it also creates an opportunity to change to new alternatives, such as Amazon Aurora and Azure SQL.

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